Where to grow orchids - a sunroom in North Carolina

Although it is possible to grow orchids on a windowsill, it would take an awful lot of windowsills to have a place for 200-300 orchids. In North Carolina, our orchids were kept in a sunroom that had been adapted to supply some basic essentials. It was definitely not a greenhouse, but it was as close to a greenhouse as we were likely to get.

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NC sunroom, lots of windowsThe sunroom had huge windows plus skylights.
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NC sunroom, ferns and shade cloth prevent sunburned plantsThe ferns provided shady comfort to the orchids below the skylights.
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NC sunroom, the black tubes you see are part of the drip-line system.Do you see the black tubing that goes to individual orchids? It seemed like we had miles of drip-lines to water the orchids. The water was turned on by a timer -- much like you might control a sprinkler system for your lawn.
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Where to grow orchids - a sunroom in North Carolina (continued from top)

The sunroom shared the central air system with the rest of the house, but some measure of environmental control is achieved by closing / opening the door. As a rule, the door to the sunroom was kept closed during the day and stood open at night. Keeping the door closed during the day allowed the humidity and temperature to increase. Opening the door at night allowed the humidity and the temperature to drop. During severe weather (way too hot or way too cold), the sunroom door could be kept open during the day to allow the air to exchange freely with the rest of the house.

It was not a perfect environment by any means. In fact, the sunroom was on the wrong side of the house — the northeast side — which meant the orchids did not get as much light as recommended in the winter.

In spite of the circumstances, we had many orchids that bloomed for us every year. Their varied colors and shapes could be seen easily from our kitchen and from the area where we sat to eat. Even when it's done all wrong, an orchid collection in a sunroom can provide a lot of pleasure.

Light: The sunroom had large windows on three sides, plus skylights on two of the three sides. In the summer special window screens with shade cloth kept the plants from being burned by sunlight streaming in the windows. A few strategically placed ferns protected the orchids when the sun was directly overhead.

Water: A drip line system was used to water the plants individually; this was done on average once each week. The water, ran through the pots for several minutes, collected in a trough beneath the plant stands and exited out a drain in the floor.

Fertilizer: Roughly every two weeks, orchid fertilizer was added to the system that watered the orchids.

Humidity: To help maintain relatively high daytime humidity around the plants, a small humidifier ran during the day. Additional help came from a few scattered misters that were turned on periodically by a timer.

Air: To keep the air in the room circulating around the 3 shelves, a ceiling fan and a portable fan on the floor ran 365 days a year.

Temperature: Because the sunroom was part of the house, it received air conditioned air in summer and heated air in winter. However, the central air was not enough during extreme weather. In the winter, small portable heaters supplemented the central air system to keep the temperature from falling too low in the sunroom. With windows on 3 sides, temperature control was sometimes a struggle!

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